4 for 4 tonight and now at 98% on the ESPN tourney challenge. This might be the best I've ever done. Now go beat UCONN Mizzou!!! (After watching UConn the first 3 rounds I wish I could change my pick but I hope I am wrong now)
Did you watch UConn tonight? Honestly, I wasn't that impressed. Purdue had all sorts of chances to go down to the wire, and missed point blank layups, free throws, and basically shot themselves in the foot over and over again. I really think Mizzou is a good matchup against UConn. Tiller is a beast as a defender, and Price hasn't seen many guards defensively like him. Jeff Adrien is a good player, but what makes him so tough for most teams is that he's wide and can play inside, yet still has the agility to have a dribble/mid-range game. Mizzou has a guy just like him in Carroll, only slightly better imo. Thabeet is a beast, of course, but Lyons absolutely has the ability to pull him away from the basket. Moreover, Lyons is one of the best in the country at drawing fouls, and in a game like this, an early two fouls is huge. I really think Mizzou has the matchups to somewhat neutralize UConn's big three, and when you get beyond that, Mizzou has a huge, huge advantage in depth. UConn is certainly the favorite, and deservedly so, but I think Mizzou has a real shot, especially given the matchups. Tonight, I'll be honest -- I picked us because I couldn't pick against us this early. But I really didn't expect to win. Memphis is arguably the most impressive team I've seen all year, and they had the size/speed combination to break our traps and get to the rim. But we executed well enough offensively that it didn't even matter. If we do that against UConn, imo their style of play offensively is more suited to the Mizzou defense. We'll see -- even with a loss, it's still been one amazing season. GO TIGERS!!!
Mizzou will beat UConn if they play smart. UConn is not in rhythm right now and is ripe to be knocked off by a talented team. I think Mizzou can beat them by a big margin.
Watch Zona tonight, they are a team that will either shoot lights out or not hit anything. I believe they can give Louisville a scare, Nic Wise is a pretty good player for them. I think Louisville will win a nail biter.
I think Louisville wins going away. I don't think 'zona has played a team like Louisville. I think Louisville has been tested over and over and over again. of course, i certainly could be wrong!
I hope you are right, but I think their defense is going to really stifle Mizzou's offense. But you are right, Mizzou defnitely has a shot (and a much more realistic chance than A&M or Purdue), but I feel if UCONN is hitting their shots like they were the first 2 games, they will not be beaten. If they shoot like they did against Purdue they can definitely be beaten, but it will take a great game by Mizzou. Luckily you guys are playing great so I certainly hope that would be the case. How great would it be if at least 2 of Mizzou, Kansas, and OU could make the final 4?
We'll see. I really think Memphis had a defense better designed to stifle Mizzou than UConn does, given Memphis' absurd depth of long athletes, particularly at the guard spots. So much of UConn's defense is predicated on Thabeet, and Lyons is a great matchup for him, given that he can shoot from outside and also draw fouls. I think the key will actually be foul trouble. If Lyons can get Thabeet to draw a couple early, or if Price can get Tiller in foul trouble (as deep as Mizzou is, they don't have anyone who can replace Tiller's defense), that's potentially a huge swing. I wouldn't mind OU making it to give us two in the Final Four, but I'm still cheering against Kansas. If we were to play them in a Final Four game, and lost... just way, way too much at stake. It's big enough anyway without adding that to the mix.
Missouri has been impressive all through this tourney - wouldn't surprise me at all if they beat UConn. I think it would be a lot of fun to watch a Mizzou-Louisville game of both sides pressing all game long.
I'm a bigtime Mizzou fan but I don't see anyway they can beat UConn. I feel bad I didn't pick them to get past UConn in my bracket but on evidence of the 1st halfs action today I think I made the right call. Is anyone watching this and seeing the empty seats in Detroit? I'd say thats the downside of having it an NFL stadium but I don't know the specifics. Maybe the stands will fill up for tonights Louisville game. Hopefully the same won't be seen at Reliant and at the new Cowboys stadium.
That's the absolute worst way to lose. We shoot 50% from the line, and UConn, a terrible FT shooting team (65%), shoots 81%. They shoot 32 times to our 12. They made two fadeaways with hands in their faces in the final three minutes that they probably couldn't make again if they had 20 tries. We had numerous shots go halfway in and pop out down the stretch. I'm not trying to take anything away from UConn, but after watching that, I firmly believe if that game were played 10 times, Missouri would win 6 or 7 of them, and that's what makes it tough to swallow. Oh well... still a great season, and I'll congratulate UConn and wish them luck going forward. (EDIT: To be fair, I think Memphis probably beats us 6 or 7 out of 10 times, so I guess it evens out a little.)
I was at Reliant last year for the S16/E8 that included Texas and there were still empty seats. It's the pricing - all the seats were something like $150, no matter the location. The NCAA can get away with that for the Final Four, but that's way out there for the S16/E8. I went when Texas was in San Antonio for the S16/E8 and it was something like $75 or so - not surprisingly, it was sold out.
Needless to say, tonight was a bad night to be a Pitt fan. I could go more into detail but we'll just leave it at that. No need for any drunken 5 AM tirades.
Before the NCAA Tournament I "knew" that Pitt and Louisville were probably the best two teams in the nation and DEFINITELY the best two teams in the Big East. Now, with Pitt losing/blowing the heartbreaker against Nova and Louisville getting run off the floor by Mich St. UConn and Nova both advancing. So much for everything I knew. You honestly might be better off not watching a single minute of college basketball then filling out a bracket. If I had a dime for every time i've heard the "I don't even watch college ball yet I won my bracket!!!" story i'd be a millionaire. Maybe that's my new strategy for next year?
